Birthday
March 16, 2008
The boys had a great birthday! We went to Chuck E Cheese’s again. The boys played games–Owen collected all the tickets. At the end, the boys put the tickets into a counting machine. That seemed like almost as much fun as collecting the tickets in the first place. Owen had a lot of tickets, so he picked out two pieces of plastic jewelry. Andy picked out some candy with his tickets.
The boys had a pirate ship cake for their birthday.
Owen has an interesting bowling technique. He couldn’t roll the balls hard enough, so he started throwing them overhand. This led to a lot of dodging when the balls came flying back. He finally figured out that he could run up the alley and drop them in.
At lunch the next day, Andy sat next to Grandpa Larry. Andy got a new train, and he and Grandpa Larry discussed trains for a while.
Yesterday, Owen took my iPhone and:
- Turned it on
- Unlocked it
- Turned on the music
- Flipped through the photos
- Turned off the music when it hit a song he didn’t like
- Turned off the phone and handed it back to me
We went to a bunco night last night at the once per two weeks preschool that the boys go to. We found out that there is a drop-off babysitting place next to Washington Square. I think we’re going to take advantage of it while my parents are back in Texas.
The boys had their three-year checkup on Monday. Fortunately, this is the one that doesn’t have any shots.
Andy is: 41 3/4 inches tall and 42 pounds (97th percentile on both)
Owen is: 39 3/4 inches and 36 pounds (94th and 86th percentile)
The doctor asked them to jump….then he had to ask them to stop. We were talking about calcium, so I asked Andy: “Does milk have calcium?” “Uh-huh”. “Do bananas have calcium?” “No, they have potassium.” The doctor was impressed.
The boys have been mostly sleeping through the night this week *knock on wood*.
Pictures
Andy and Bart at the zoo
Andy eating cake at Chuck E Cheese’s
Andy and Grandpa Larry looking at Andy’s train
Boys with Bart, Heather, and Angie (Bart’s sister)
Boys with the pirate ship cake
Boys at Hayden’s with a Curious George cake
Owen wearing a crown
Owen smiling at Gymboree
Owen and Heather at the zoo
Reasoning
February 16, 2008
The boys are reasoning a lot more. You can see them trying to figure things out. We bought a new remote control for the TV. Owen figured out how to work it by himself.
The boys are starting to recognize a few letters and words. Andy recognizes “A” and “O”. Both boys recognize their names when we write them on the stickers at Gymboree. They are starting to make the association between “this is something written on the page” and “this is the word that daddy is saying”. And they both recognize the page in Berenstain Bears where Papa Bear says “OUCH!” (it’s the only word on that page).
New words: fantastic, awesome, aikido, Ikea (they can distinguish these words now–the main difference in pronunciation is the “do” at the end of aikido). Andy still pops up with “tiny invaders” every so often. “money”–mostly quarters for an occasional video game, but they’re also figuring out that money can buy them things.
They just purchased a new playset with their Valentine’s money. They were very excited.
For cousin Tim: the boys now know that a fire engine carries its own water, and a fire truck doesn’t.
We’ve found that we can get the boys to go to sleep early and sleep through the night. It only takes: 2 hours of preschool (MOPS, once every other week). An hour of climbing at Burger King on the play structure. Digging in the dirt (I mean helping mommy and daddy plant) for an hour. 45 minutes of Gymboree.
This fall, the boys will start a regular preschool. They are going to Tigard Playschool, just down the street from us. They will go M, W, F for 2.5 hours each day. It looks like a good program. They also have an indoor gym that Nancy and the boys can use on rainy days, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The snow in the pictures below is from our trip to the coast–the rest stop at mile 28 had snow.
Pictures
Owen playing with blocks at Gymboree
Owen at the fire station
Owen playing in the snow
Boys at the fire station
Boys at Gymboree, driving
Boys playing in the snow
Andy walking with daddy
Andy at the fire station
Andy playing in the snow
More changes
January 19, 2008
I’m not sure what’s going on with the pictures on the website–I sent an email to my web hosting provider.
Usually the boys get along really well. Andy and Owen did something nice for each other the other day, and they gave each other a hug. It was very sweet.
Andy likes to play a game called “I can’t move” where he stops walking and says “I can’t move”. You’re supposed to help him–either pick him up or gently help him move forward. He and Owen were in the hall (around the corner from me, so I only heard it). Andy said, “I can’t move”. I heard a shove and a thump, then Owen said, “I got him to move.”
The boys are asking permission a lot more now. “May I do…May I get that down…” Unfortunately, the boys seem to think that they can give each other permission to do things. Owen said, “That’s okay Andy, you can come up.”
We continue to have quite the daredevils. Owen will climb and perch on pretty much anything. Andy held my hand going up and down the stairs the other day. He said, “I won’t let you fall down, daddy.” Very sweet. And a week or two ago, when I came home, he said, “I was worried about you, daddy.” It had been a stormy walk home.
Owen has learned how to unbuckle his car seat 
However, he also buckles himself into his carseat now, so it’s kind of a trade-off.
New words / phrases: “I can’t remember her name” — should be “I don’t know her name”, but we’re still working on that.
Pictures
Andy and Grampie, playing with Harold the helicopter
Andy sitting with Grandpa Larry
Andy playing trains with Uncle Jeff
Boys at Christmas
Boys laughing with Auntie Kathy
Boys eating pizza
Owen in a bucket
Owen playing with a castle
Owen eating pizza
Christmas
December 27, 2007
Christmas was exciting this year. The boys have been very excited this year. Last year, Christmas was two days (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day). This year, it’s been two months. “Is it Christmas today? Open presents!” We’re spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with my parents, then we went to Jeff and Kathy’s for Christmas Day. We had a white Christmas for the first time in many years. I think I’ve only seen 3 or 4 white Christmases in Oregon. The snow melted before we got to play in it, though.
The boys enjoyed helping to wrap presents this year.
For Thanksgiving, we brought the boys little table and chairs over to Jeff and Kathy’s house. That worked out really well–the boys sat and ate nicely.
New words / phrases: Christmas, Merry Christmas, “I don’t like that idea”, “That be a good idea”, fantastic, monster.
The boys are really growing up. Owen helped wash the dishes. He rinsed off all of the plates and handed them to me to put into the dishwasher. Another night, Owen taught Andy how to play a train whistle. Andy wasn’t getting any sounds out of it, so Owen would take the whistle, show Andy how to play it, then hand it back. He said, “Like this Andy,” and showed him how to puff his cheeks.
The boys like to help with dinner, especially when we make meatloaf. The boys get to mix and decide how much of each spice we put in. It makes for interesting dinners 
We do get occasional fights, of course, but generally the boys get along pretty well.
We’ve been making the Home Depot workshops regularly. Andy made a pirate ship recently.
I have finally finished the year two DVDs, so we should be mailing those out in the next few days.
Pictures
Owen headshot
Owen making cookies with Auntie Kathy
Owen in a towel
Boys making cookies
Boys dressed up, playing with Legos
Boys with Andy’s pirate ship
Andy with a Lego bridge
Andy in a towel
Andy playing with trains
Halloween
November 6, 2007
Halloween was fun this year! There were big changes since last year. Owen recognized that the costumes were scary. We had to keep saying, “It’s just pretend.” Owen figured it out and started saying, “It’s just pretend.”
The boys have a book with a pirate ship under the water, so the pirates have all turned into skeletons. Because of that, the boys call skeletons “pirates”. They were pointing at all of the kids dressed as skeletons saying “Pirate!” Owen looked at all of the plastic weapons and said, “Those for pirates. Just pretend.”
The boys walked the whole time and carried their own candy buckets. They were very good about saying “Trick or treat” and occasionally said “Thank you.” At one house, Owen took a piece of candy and I said, “Now what do we say?” Owen thought about it, then said, “Trick or Treat!” At the end of the night, the boys were saying “Happy Halloween!”
The Sunday before Halloween, Nancy took the boys out with the Millises to look for pumpkins.
We went to a ceili in Vancouver on Saturday. The boys had a great time. Andy danced with me a bit (he loves to dance), and both boys sat and listened to the music for a while. Then they found the room with the Legos and they were set. When Owen was done, I had to drag Andy away. He was sitting in the middle of the Legos, playing with several older boys.
We don’t hear new words as much as we hear new phrases. It’s not that the boys aren’t saying new words, but it’s hard to keep up with what’s new and what isn’t. The boys have learned a bunch of Sesame Street characters: Curly Bear, Elmo, Big Bird, and Cookie Monster. New phrases: “Awesome dude” (that was Andy last night), “Yeah sure”.
Al’s Garden Center had an open house / holiday party on November 1st, so we took the boys there. They love going to garden centers and running around–actually, they love going anywhere and running around.
We’ve had such nice weather that we took the boys out for a picnic.
Pictures
Andy at Al’s Garden Center
Andy at the picnic
Boys with Abby at Halloween
Boys fueling up to hunt pumpkins
Boys playing in the maze
Owen at Al’s
Owen at the picnic
Visitors
October 21, 2007
Heather and Bart were out this past week. The boys always like it when we have relatives in from out of town. They asked about Bart and Heather before they came, and we went to the airport to see them arrive. We went up to the zoo (the boys had a great time) and to OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). There are two great areas for the boys there. They have one area which has water, a sand box, and building blocks. The other room is the ball room. It has small foam balls and machines that shoot air, so you can launch the balls high into the air.
For Bart’s birthday, the boys got to wrap their first present. I helped them cut the paper, then they fastened the scotch tape onto the present. They’re ready to go Christmas shopping for Mommy, though apparently she doesn’t want a Thomas the Tank Engine.
We went to the children’s clinic at Home Depot yesterday. They are holding the clinics twice a month now–the boys are very excited. As we walked out, we saw the sign for the clinic. It said “For children ages 5-12.” So in 2 1/2 more years, the boys will be able to go to the clinics We met two more sets of twins at Home Depot–one set of 6-year old girls and the others were 18-month old boys.
I asked Andy yesterday, “Andy, do you want to wear shoes or boots?” Andy said, “Buster’s!”. I said, “Andy, do you want to wear shoes or boots?” “Andy want to wear boots to Buster’s!” Guess where we had lunch
The boys have been sleeping well. They go to bed between 9 and 10 and get up between 9 and 10 in the morning. We would like them to go to bed a bit earlier, but with changing to daylight savings time in another two weeks, we’ll just wait and let their schedule naturally shift.
The boys are going to be firemen for Halloween. They’re pretty excited. Hopefully we’ll have decent weather. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.
We bought a play set from our neighbors. It has two slides and lots of places for the boys to climb.
Pictures
Owen and Bart at the Oregon Zoo
Owen showing off the birdhouse he made
Owen at the Oregon Zoo
Boys on the elephant tricycle
Boys at Home Depot
Andy sitting with Grampie and Heather
Andy on the new play set
Andy sitting at the zoo
Astoria
October 2, 2007
Last week we went over to Astoria (on the Oregon coast, for those who aren’t familiar with Oregon) for a seminar for me. Nancy, the boys, and my parents all came as well.
Everyone had a great time. The boys went to the Maritime Museum and rode the trolley. They saw ships and the big anchor by the wharf.
Nancy and I realized the other day that our boys don’t really say “no”. They may disagree with us, and they certainly have strong opinions, but we don’t hear “no” much. I think it’s because we try to avoid asking the boys yes-or-no questions, and we try to redirect them rather than telling them no.
One funny example from a while ago: Andy didn’t want to come into the restaurant with us, so I said, “Do you want to sit by Mommy or Daddy in the restaurant?” Andy thought about it, then said, “Stay in car seat!”
The other night we asked Owen, “Where do you want to eat tonight?” because it was Owen’s turn to pick. Andy chimed in with “Buster’s!”. We said, “Andy, it’s Owen’s turn to pick.” Andy said, “Andy just saying Buster’s. Andy not pick.” And of course, Owen immediately said, “Buster’s!”
The boys are really connecting together many more sentences than they used to. We get whole paragraphs now explaining things to us.
Both boys love to jump. They will stand in place and just start jumping, or they will jump off something. Owen doesn’t really like to walk. Even running is too slow for him. So he will jump and hop and skip as he walks along. Owen has also decided that walking down the stairs is too slow. Instead, he turns around and slides down on this stomach (feet-first, fortunately!).
We went to Powell’s Books last night. I picked up a basket, so both of the boys had to pick up a basket as well. Andy made a beeline to the children’s section, which is pretty good since you can’t see the children’s section from the front of the store.
Their memories are getting much better. They remember when things are going to happen, and they can remember specific things, like going to Astoria or where we bought a particular toy.
Pictures
Andy in Astoria with Mimi and Papa
Andy grinning
Andy walking with Mimi
Boys sitting in front of the Columbia River
Boys walking
Owen with the Astoria bridge in the background
Owen and Mimi in front of the big anchor
Owen and Mimi reading
2 1/2 years
September 9, 2007
The boys are two and a half years old today! Who would have believed it?
They are the size of most 4 and 5 year olds.
The boys have lots of new words. Mostly these are train words: flamingo, gondola car, side dumper, boxcar, engine, tank car.
Andy has been saying some cute things: (after we bought him something) “thank you very much”, “thank you very much for everything”,
“I’m so happy”.
The boys are stringing together multiple sentences. Andy listed his train one day–he must have said 30 or 40 words (it was a long train). That was very unusual–we don’t normally see sentences that long.
The boys are actively participating in Gymboree now. They follow the teacher around and take part in almost all of the activities.
We found a playground toy that Owen really likes. Owen hangs on a handle suspended from a beam, and then I push him across. He really likes it. Andy tried it, but he just wanted to push the handle himself, without holding on. On the other hand, Andy really likes to swing, and Owen isn’t interested in swinging.
The boys like to help. They help make oatmeal, toast (they put the bread in and start the toaster all by themselves, under supervision), and meatloaf. It might be time to get them started making dessert
The boys have finally outgrown their froggy boots Their feet haven’t grown as quickly this year as last year–they stayed in those boots (and similar-sized shoes) for about 9 months. They now have fireman boots which they have to wear everywhere. I’m not sure why we bothered buying Andy shoes
Pictures
Owen with daddy listening to Irish music
Owen helping Grammie set the table
Owen showing off his latest creation at Home Depot
Boys sitting with daddy on a lounger
Boys at Red Robin–Owen wearing a hat
Andy and Grammie
Andy and Grampie
Andy showing off his latest Home Depot creation
County Fair
August 7, 2007
We took the boys to the Washington County Fair recently. The boys had a great time. They went on the carousel and several other rides. Andy took one look at the fire engine ride and said, “Andy ride fire truck. No daddy!” He ended up riding it three times, all by himself. Both boys drove trucks–Owen had a few turns driving by himself.
We attended the kids’ workshop at Home Depot on Saturday. We made toolboxes for the boys. The toolboxes came out well–the boys really enjoy them.
New words / phrases: city bus, school bus, probably not (said in a very cute voice), X run too fast (e.g. Andy run too fast), me, my, I.
We’ve heard several nine-word sentences and some two-sentence combinations. The boys are talking more every day.
We’re never really sure about relative heights–it’s hard to get the boys to stand next to each other long enough to compare. Andy is still taller, but Owen seems to vary from 1/2 to 2 inches shorter than Andy.
Both boys are very active–they love to run and jump and climb.
Owen has now mastered the playground at Bridgeport. There are three different ways to climb up on the play structure, and Owen demonstrated them all. The scariest one wasn’t the rock climbing-style one, but the one where he has to duck under and step across from the ladder to the main play structure. At that point, he was over my head. I wasn’t quite sure how I would catch him if he slipped. I 0nly climbed up once, and that was to slide down with Owen at his request. Mostly, Nancy and I stayed on the ground and watched them play.
Andy continues to pick up new words out of thin air. He’ll pick something up quickly, then Owen will have it a few days to a week later.
We had lunch at Hayden’s a week ago, and there were radio-controlled boat races in the pond there. Of course we had to go and watch after we finished eating.
Last week, we had a company party at Bullwinkle’s (a family fun center near us). The boys rode go-karts with us–they had a great time.
Pictures
Andy and Karen looking at pictures
Andy riding the fire truck
Andy playing a video game
Boys riding the carousel
Boys driving a truck
Boys with their toolboxes
Boys playing a game
Owen driving a truck
Owen and Mommy riding the carousel
Owen playing a video game
Vacation
July 16, 2007
We were on vacation the week of July 4th at Black Butte. The boys went in swimming almost every day. They would play with toys in the wading pool, then one of us would take each of them into the big pool to float around with us carrying them.
They really like playing in water–we are going to look into finding a place where we can all go swimming.
New words: forklift, digger truck, tanker truck (we got a new truck book…can you tell?), Aunt Kathy, Heather (instead of heh-heh), blueberry, raspberry
The vacation set us back on potty training. We’re going to wait a while until they boys seem interested again.
Owen loves to vacuum. He plugs it in, then either puts the cord over his shoulder or hangs it up on something to keep it out of the way. He will also pick up things on the floor so it is clear for him to vacuum.
Andrew is working on contextual reading (reading when he has clues about what the words are). At Black Butte, the bike trails all have “STOP” printed in white text on the ground by each intersection with a road. Andy walked up to one of the stop signs, looked down and said “Stop”. Later, we saw a backhoe loader with “John Deere” printed on it (but not the logo–just the words). I said, “Andy, what does that say?” He said, “John Deere.”
Karen and Bob were out. The boys enjoyed seeing them.
We bought the boys new bicycle helmets so they could ride their tricycles safely. Andy put his helmet on in the store and didn’t take it off until dinner! At Black Butte, the boys rode their tricycles around. They really enjoyed it. Owen has the concept of “pedaling” down. Andy still just pushes himself around.
Since we’ve come back from vacation, the boys have been staying up as late as we have. We need to get them back on a regular earlier bedtime.
Pictures
Owen concentrating
Owen and daddy swimming
Owen playing in the pool
Boys wearing their new bicycle helmets
Boys walking with daddy
Boys riding the train with Karen
Andy swimming with Grampie
Andy playing in a fountain
Andy showing off a fountain in Sisters
